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sorry if i'm in a mistake.. but think is so easy.. there is no reason that they had been there.. Cave divers in caves, OW divers in Caverns..! Serious mistakes on this guided cavern tour I guess. Dive safe!

sorry if i'm in a mistake.. but think is so easy.. there is no reason that they had been there.. Cave divers in caves, OW divers in Caverns..! Serious mistakes on this guided cavern tour I guess. Dive safe!

Whatever their reasons for going in the prohibited area, it does boil down to that. Whether the guide died trying to save the others from their mistake, or on the other extreme he just might have taken them there as a special gesture that went wrong - who knows, but no one should have gone there.

What are we taught, even when our bud goes where he should not? Don't become the second victim.

You can test the tanks you breathe or - dive on hope.
Testing is safer...

Yea I translated his comments and he does say there was no broken line so that story was false. It is obvious they left the safety of marked areas and ventured into others but there is no way for him to prove the guide lead them there or that the guide was there intentionally. Maybe he was observing the 2 explore and had his eyes on one and when he turned the other was gone, then he went to retrieve them and they never found the way out.

We will likely never know what led them to go into the cave, and so deep into it. In fact, the official announcement said that while there was definitely negligence, given that all three drowned, there is no case to pursue, and there will be no criminal charges filed. However, there will be continued investigation of the event and possibly tightening or reinforcement of the regulations.

I have found some contradictions about the lenght they bodies were found, the report of the rescue team says that they were found at:

"We do not know because we find that inside the cave, we say that the visitors were about 70 feet of penetration into the cave and the guide to about 110 feet of the cave," said Gonzalo Garcia Larrañaga.

That means that was around 23m for the marriage and 33m for the guide, whereas Quero said

Originally Posted by Quero

I found them 170 meters back from the cavern line, past two large rooms, and away from the line. Four cave diving rules were broken...by breaking just one rule you are at risk. The issue is that the couple trusted their guide, particularly since they knew nothing about cave diving. I don't know--then what would you call that?

I noticed that discrepancy as well. But please note that it wasn't me that gave the 170 meter figure--it was the recovery diver, Gonzalo Garcia Larrañaga, and he typed those words into the comments area himself. I assumed that the reporter who wrote the article in which the 70 feet and 110 feet figures are cited simply misquoted Gonzalo Garcia Larrañaga somehow. In other words, Gonzalo himself gave the 170 number and actually wrote the words and published them without being quoted whereas the other numbers may have been noted down by the reporter during an interview, maybe without the notation of whether he said "feet" or "meters" and maybe scribbled and barely legible (70 vs 170?). Anyway, I tend to put more weight on Gonzalo's actual first-person account than the reporter's second-hand account.

I've logged 35 cenote dives and about 10 in Chac Mool. The last two were about a month ago.

When I was there in March, I talked to my guide about finally getting cave certified so that I could see some of the rooms just inside the cave. He mentioned that some guides had been seen with single tank customers coming out of the cave. Crazy.

Guided cenote tours are strictly a follow the guide deal and there is no way these people entered the cave unless the guide led them there. They didn't just blow off the guide and swim to their deaths with him chasing behind. The guide led them into the cave and then got confused. Pretty high price to pay just to see the 'first pretty room'.

I've logged 35 cenote dives and about 10 in Chac Mool. The last two were about a month ago.

When I was there in March, I talked to my guide about finally getting cave certified so that I could see some of the rooms just inside the cave. He mentioned that some guides had been seen with single tank customers coming out of the cave. Crazy.

Guided cenote tours are strictly a follow the guide deal and there is no way these people entered the cave unless the guide led them there. They didn't just blow off the guide and swim to their deaths with him chasing behind. The guide led them into the cave and then got confused. Pretty high price to pay just to see the 'first pretty room'.

I just don't see how there is enough information to make that kind of conclusion. I think it is equally likely one of the divers "strayed" off the cavern line for whatever reason, unintentional or intentional, and then the situation somehow escalated out of control.

I have been waiting for someone to confirm if this was a regular practice. Thanks for the info.

I guess this is how rumors start and information gets distorted. First someone hears from a second hand that they have seen single tank divers come out of the cave zone. Then later this becomes reported as a "regular practice".

It would not surprise to find out it's happened. But how "regular" it is and whether it happened, or at least how and why it happened in this case, are still big questions.

So sorry to hear about that as you never want to see that. I really took to this post as I'm going to Playa Del Carmen in 2 weeks. I'm definetly never going to go into a Cenote that is for sure. That is one limit that I know I cannot do. My hats off to all of you who do Cenote diving or penetrate wrecks. I'm probably the most conservative diver out there.